Fall Issue

Sue Gilbertson (left), Durham County Families Care Team Member, talks with Marisol Jiminez of El Pueblo who was a speaker at the second installment of the lecture series.

Durham County Families Care Team Hosts “Immigration in NC” Lecture Series to Educate Service Providers

The Triangle United Way Durham County Families Care Team, the Durham County Cooperative Extension and the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership hosted a speaker series entitled “Immigration in North Carolina” for health and human service providers in Durham County.

The series educated participants to increase their cultural awareness, knowledge of local resources and legal rights of the Hispanic-Latino population so that agencies will be better equipped to address the needs of this growing segment of the community. All participants received a certificate of completion.

The series offered sessions on:

"Understanding Immigration to N.C. - Patterns, Causes, and Consequences"
"Current Legislation Affecting Immigrants - What You Should Know and What You Can Do"
"Serving Immigrant Populations - A 'Nuts and Bolts' Guide for Practitioners"

"The Durham Families Community Care Team recognized that for human service providers to better address the needs of the community, we had to have a better understanding of the impact of immigration on families that experience it," said Pat Harris, Durham Families Team Co-Chairperson." We are pleased with the response. It shows how many caring committed professionals are working in the Durham community."

Community Care Team volunteers assess the issues plaguing the community and use that information to make funding decisions. Teams work year-round in their respective county to identify community needs and invest donor contributions in programs that target local issues to make a positive impact. There are six different Community Care Team areas across the region: Children, Youth, Seniors, Health, Basic Needs and Families.

If you are interested in becoming a Community Care Team volunteer in Durham, Orange or Wake county, please contact Suzanne Deobald by e-mail or phone at 919.463.5048.

Over 52 people have participated in the series which were held at the Durham County Cooperative Extension office.

Participant Comments:

"The session was jam-packed with information and I learned so much that will enable me to think and broaden my horizons when I talk with Latinos (as) in my work. "

"Incredibly informative!! And disturbing… So many things I didn’t know—need to do this is so many more places, settings, etc. so others can learn these things and begin to do something about them."

"Excellent workshop—very informative—I’ve learned some shocking statistics. Enough to get me involved in advocacy."

"Great information. I was really educated about immigration in NC and how serious the concerns and issues are and how it is affecting families."

"Lots of great information presented in an orderly fashion. I’ve been to several presentations and other events on this topic and this has been one of the best. The speakers were knowledgeable and interactive. They presented the information in an applicable, easy to understand fashion. "

Thanks to everyone who spoke at the series:

Jenny Snead Williams- Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Ivan Parra- N.C. Latino Coalition
Rebecca Reyes M.Div, M.S.W.- Latino Health Project Duke University Medical Center
Marisol Jiminez -El Pueblo
Yvette McMiller- LATCH PROGRAM
Miguel Chirnos- Durham Public Schools
Elisabeth Hargrove- Healthy Families Durham
Karla Ornelas- Deputy Consul of Mexico
Matt Nash, Duke University Fuqua School of Business
Reverend Linzie Atkins, III

Special thanks to the NC Cooperative Extension for hosting this event!